Business Income for RV Parks and Campgrounds

Business-income planning asks what the park could lose and what it must keep paying if a covered physical loss interrupts operations. The direct answer is not to multiply one average month by an arbitrary number of months. Build a documented, seasonal forecast from the park’s own revenue, continuing-expense, recovery, and reopening assumptions, then have a qualified insurance professional compare it with the policy’s trigger and limit. The NAIC business-insurance overview says business-interruption/continuation insurance can address lost earnings from an extended shutdown caused by circumstances covered by a property plan, includes expenses such as payroll and utility bills, and is based on financial records. That description is not a claim calculation or a promise that every loss of bookings responds.

This guide is for commercial RV parks, glamping resorts, and campgrounds. Cancellations, a weak season, a voluntary closure, an access restriction, or a utility outage may be treated differently from physical damage under the issued policy. Read the actual forms and endorsements.

Use the related Business Income and Extra Expense coverage guide to organize policy questions, and the Electrical Infrastructure risk page when power dependencies drive the recovery timeline.

Model the park’s real recovery period

Separate nightly and weekly sites, seasonal contracts, cabins, glamping units, activities, store, food, rentals, and events. Show occupancy, rates, deposits, refunds, cancellations, and expected demand by month. A premium park can lose more from a short high-season closure than from a longer shoulder-season closure, so annual revenue divided by twelve is a poor substitute for monthly records.

Then list costs that continue or change: payroll and benefits, debt service, taxes, leases, utilities, reservation software, security, minimum vendor commitments, insurance, and critical maintenance. Distinguish costs that stop when guests leave from costs that must continue to retain staff, protect property, or prepare to reopen. Flag ordinary payroll, temporary labor, and extra expense as separate questions rather than assuming the policy treats them identically.

Build a recovery timeline with the people who perform the work:

Stabilize: secure the site, document damage, protect undamaged property, and arrange temporary services.
Investigate and design: obtain adjuster, engineer, contractor, utility, environmental, or code input as applicable.
Permit and procure: account for approvals, long-lead electrical or pool equipment, custom cabin components, and seasonal contractor availability.
Repair and test: restore buildings, roads, utilities, equipment, access systems, and guest amenities in a usable sequence.
Reopen and rebuild demand: allow for inspections, staff return, communications, reservation changes, and a gradual return of occupancy.

The Ready Business plan guidance specifically points businesses toward communications planning, IT support and recovery, continuity plans, training, and exercises. Use that operational guidance to test dependencies; it does not create coverage for an interruption.

Match the limit to the terms

Read the trigger, covered cause, waiting period, restoration period, limit, coinsurance or other condition, ordinary payroll, extra expense, extended income, civil authority, ingress or egress, dependent property, and service-interruption provisions. Ask:

Does the form require direct physical loss or damage to covered property?
Is the damage caused by a covered cause of loss, and is the affected property scheduled?
When does the waiting period begin, and does it apply to service interruption or another extension?
How are seasonal fluctuations, trends, planned growth, or a dependent supplier considered?
Does the period end when property is repaired, when it could be repaired, or when income returns?
Are extra expenses covered only when they reduce the loss, and is there a separate limit?

A cancellation, utility failure, civil-authority order, access restriction, contaminated site, or lost future booking is not automatically a covered interruption. A flood, wind, equipment failure, or other cause may be excluded, separately insured, or subject to a different deductible. Coverage for an underlying property loss does not automatically answer every income question.

A planning worksheet

Input	Park record to assemble	Question for the coverage review
Revenue	Monthly sites, units, store, food, activity, rental, and event sales	Which revenue streams are included and how is seasonality treated?
Continuing costs	Payroll, debt, taxes, utilities, leases, software, security	Which costs continue, and are ordinary payroll or extra expense treated separately?
Restoration	Damage sequence, permits, procurement, inspections, reopening	What period and extensions apply, and what ends the period?
Dependencies	Utility, vendor, road, payment, reservation, and supplier records	Are dependent property or service-interruption terms available and limited?
Evidence	Statements, POS exports, reservations, payroll, contracts	How will pre-loss performance and mitigation steps be documented?

Hypothetical planning example (not a claim calculation)

Suppose a park’s internal worksheet shows that a hypothetical storm damages a bathhouse and electrical distribution just before its busiest six weeks. The owner estimates two weeks to stabilize, six weeks for permits and equipment, and four weeks to test systems and refill reservations. That is a planning scenario, not a coverage conclusion. The owner should model monthly revenue rather than state a single annual average, identify payroll and utilities that continue, and ask whether the cause, property, waiting period, restoration period, and service terms fit the issued policy. No amount in this illustration should be presented to an insurer as a verified loss without supporting records.

Keep financial statements, occupancy and rate history, reservation exports, payroll, point-of-sale records, vendor contracts, repair estimates, mitigation invoices, and a continuity plan. The NAIC guidance is a useful reminder to connect the worksheet to financial records; it is not a substitute for the form.

FAQs for seasonal operators

Should a campground insure gross annual revenue?

Use the policy’s defined measure and the park’s supportable records, not a generic industry figure. Discuss revenue that would have been earned, continuing expenses, seasonality, trends, and any coinsurance or limit condition. A broker or carrier may need a different calculation than the accounting statement.

Does business income pay because reservations were cancelled?

Not automatically. Ask whether a covered physical loss, applicable cause, waiting period, and restoration or extension provision are present. Cancellation protection, event coverage, civil authority, service interruption, and business income can be different arrangements.

Is lost income from a pool or utility closure automatically covered?

No. Identify the cause, ownership, equipment, service provider, physical damage, and policy trigger. Property, equipment breakdown, utility-service, liability, and income forms may respond differently or not at all.

What records should be saved after an interruption?

Preserve pre-loss financials, reservation and occupancy history, POS data, payroll, cancellation logs, mitigation decisions, invoices, repair schedules, communications, and reopening evidence. Do not alter records to fit an assumed coverage result.

This guide helps an owner prepare questions; it does not estimate a claim or interpret an issued policy.